Air compressors, and specifically high powered air compressors, have well-deserved reputations as oily, dirty and noisy devices. Such compressors often produce large quantities of waste oil in many locations, including in the stream of air that is output from the unit. They have been very loud when operating.
An oil-free output tip for such a compressor has been developed. This device produces an oil-free output; however, this oil-free tip has special requirements. The oil-free tip often requires a relatively high rpm from the driving prime mover. Engines which drive conventional compressor tips often run at 1800 to 2100 rpm. One example of such an engine is made by Kobelko. However, the oil-free tips have often required 3000 or 4000 rpm.
Previous attempts to change the rotational speed of these engines using gears have met with problems. Unexpectedly, many of these attempts at gearing simply did not work, and the inventors found many problems that existed in this gearing. Those problems, and their solutions, are among the objects of the present invention.
Many such compressors, moreover use very loud, noisy prime movers. The inventors also found that the users of these compressors do not want a very noisy or dirty compressor.
Commercial scale compressors of this type operate at extremely high energy levels. The inventors found that any variation in the output of the motor causes extremely difficult problems with balancing and tuning.
It is an object of the present invention to avoid the above-described problems, by providing an oil-free compressor which includes special noise and vibration reducing characteristics.